This blog is a window to how I see and experience things in a spiritual setting. I am a seeker of peace and I find it within and through meditation. I am a seeker of joy and I find it in my work. I am a seeker of happiness and I find it through the delicate balancing of work and life.

Friday, March 28, 2008

Some spiritual attitudes

Some spiritual attitudes that I have experienced or read in books so far1) Be honest: There is nothing like being honest as far as possible. It clear things up, clears up unwanted feelings, clears the road ahead and makes life easier. This is something I have learnt in grad life so far.

2) Respect: Everyone deserves respect. I used to judge people based on their academic achievements and skills when I came here. This attitude has caused me more trouble than anything else. Again, everyone deserves respect no matter their standing, no matter their behavior, no matter their situation.

3) Acceptance: I had a lot of pre-concieved notions of how my life should be. These things are not too bad, it's like having a plan. Only thing, plans can fail. And you got to accept the situation calmly and without resentment or hatred or other negative feelings when things don't go your way. Acceptance of the "here and now" is a very powerful tool, since it can liberate you from worries, from the past misgivings and from future uncertainities. This quality is something that I have grown to appreciate through my experiences in grad school.

4) Giving in your best a.k.a living life to the fullest:There is a saying my parents and uncle would oft repeat: "When you eat, you eat. When you play, you play. When you work, you work".The import here is that you giving in your "full mind" in whatever it is that you are currently doing or being. Don't worry about the future as you work over that report. Don't feel guilty for some past action when you are having your food.This attitude as all other spiritual attitudes "makes life simple".

So doesn't matter how screwed up your life is, doesn't matter if you have been down the shit hole, doesn't matter if things can't get worser (by the way, they always can) - all you got to focus on is "now", "the now", "THE NOW". What are you doing now?What are you being now?What do you wish to do now?Math analogy:This is similar to the "memoryless property" of the exponential distribution which you encounter in probability.Usually inter-arrival times of buses at bus-stops are assumed to follow an exponential distribution.What this means is, it doesn't matter how long you have been waiting at the bus-stop, the probability that the next bus is going to arrive within 5 minutes is always the same!

So give in your best in whatever you do, give in your full mind to whatever task you are working on and that my friend, is "the way to live life to the fullest".

Work hard but do not have expectations on the results is another way of interpreting "acceptance". See my previous post on "Perfection" to know why we should accept the "here and now".The previous post is basically a summary of the teachings in the "Conversation with God" books written by Neale Donald Walsch.

5)Relax Is relaxation a spiritual attitude? Relaxation is a by-product of following the above four-attitudes. But if for some reason, you are stuck in life due to circumstance, then relax! There are powerful relaxation techniques available that calm you down from any possible situation you could imagine yourself in.This is a good webpage to know more about a relaxation technique.

My purpose of writing this blog is to truthfully record my spiritual learnings learnt from experiences and also from books so as to serve as a reference for me for the future and also to inspire the readers to get into the act of introspecting their lives and attitudes with the aim of spiritual growth.A few books I recommend (and have read myself) to get started into spirituality:

1) Conversations with God series by Neale Donald Walsch - Includes Book 1, Book 2, Book 3, Friendship with God, Home with God, Communion with God, etc.

I have read other books in bits and pieces: Eckhart Tolle's "The power of Now", Gary Zukav's "Soul stories", etc.

About Me

I am a 28 year old graduate student from India doing my Phd in US.
Basically I am in process of bringing out my multi-faceted personality through the medium called 'life'. Hence, I have different blogs catering to those different personalities: Physical (Musings of a Runner), Intellectual (Musings of a grad student), and Spiritual (Musings of a Seeker).
If you have any comments: Reach me at karthik dot iitm at gmail dot com
(Bloghead image taken from here)